Time off, January 13 [open]

[Gabriel Sullivan]

A whole new day, almost at it's close, and Gabe found himself seated on a bench in the park, his coat draped over the back of the bench while he relaxed and watched the sun setting over the trees. He was off of work, done with errands, and just felt like getting a few minutes to himself before he went home to be a slave to the cat, like every other day. He liked this period between night and day, anyway, this twilight. It made him think of his own gifts, and how light and dark were so necessary for each other. You couldn't have a shadow without a light to cast it, just as you could never truly appreciate the bright warmth of light without first knowing the chill of the dark. He appreciated both sides of that coin, but just as most of his family had in past generations, he'd thrown his allegiance to the shadows.

What did that say about him?

It was ironic how darkness and shadows were always presented as evil and scary, and though he wouldn't deny that they could be, he thought that he was living proof that they weren't always. So was his mother. She was a great woman, a very kind person, and she'd been the one who taught him to make the most of what he could do. They were both trying to do good, though how many people really saw it that way?

Maybe he was wrong, and they were right. Not all bad guys had to know they were bad, but he somehow didn't think so. He couldn't imagine that the help he gave people was really wrong, even if he'd be in serious trouble if some people found out. Sitting on that bench with the warm hues of the sky being swallowed up by the dark of night, he didn't think so.

He loved this time of day. Twilight.

[Grendel Parks]

Grendel had been avoiding the park as of late. After that momentary scare the last time he'd stopped by the bookstore he wasn't one to tempt fate. So he parked on the other side this time and left at a later time of day. Even sniffers had to sleep and even though many of them favored the later hours of day, that wasn't when their targets were out and about.

As it happened the park was one of those neutral places to go. And as long as he wasn't near the street it was unlikely he'd be spied on.

He had a strange contraption with him today with a tall antennae sticking up from it. It was a mish-mosh of recognizable objects, a cellphone, a modem, bits and pieces of what might have been part of a microwave oven. It was a truly dazzling creation. To the naked eye it looked like a hobbyist's nightmare. To a knowledgeable 'advantaged citizen' it may well have been a ritual the likes of which had not been seen until the latter 20th century. In fact Grendel had been working on this one for days, looking to get it just right. All the energies had to be flowing the right way and needed to be lined up just right.

He passed by Gabe's park bench as he made his way to an open area in the park carrying his contraption in a large cardboard box.

He froze when he realized there was someone there and looked.

"Oh hi." He said quietly. "Late hour to be lingering around here don't you think?"

[Gabriel Sullivan]

Considering how he shared most abilities with the sniffers, it shouldn't have been too odd that he liked the same time of day, but the people who knew that he was actually one of the advantaged citizens tended to forget that. He didn't often let it on around most of them that he could sense their magic, and for good reason. No sense in reminding them of sniffers. That wouldn't exactly inspire trust in anyone.

"I like this time of day," he replied simply, stretching a little before taking note of the box. Knowing anything about Grendel made it fairly easy to guess the type of thing that was in the box, though Gabe had no chance of knowing exactly what it was. He'd just guess.

"What's with the science project?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He hoped the guy wasn't going to do anything crazy, or anything that would draw attention to them. Or both, actually. Gabe liked quiet nights.

[Grendel Parks]

Grendel looked to his box and then to the other man thoughtfully before saying. "I erm... it's a long story, but I've been working on it for awhile now." He responded to the question. "I should warn you in advance I'm planning to make some sparks and I wouldn't want to put you at risk without warning in advance. There's a reason I wasn't going to do this at the house."

He smirked sheepishly and the box shifted in his arms. "But it has to be done. I've had this thorn in my side for a little too long. Some mini-hacker on the east coast seems to have decided my safeguards are a good way to test his hacking skills." He said with a quirk at the corner of his mouth.

"It's been an escalating battle for several months now and I don't know whether or not he is in league with the government but I refuse to let him bring down my information sites. So I think I've found a way to stop him. Hopefully he'll decide it's not worth the effort and leave us alone after this." He continued.

There was a fat chance of that. Hackers thrived on a challenge and Grendel had placed a big one out there. No one of average talent could break through his safeguards, so he was fairly sure this hacker was someone like him. What worried him was that he might be working for the government and he might gain enough information trying to break into his misleading network to lead back to him.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

With an explanation like that, Gabe couldn't help but stand up to take a peek into the box. Yep, he had no idea what it was. That was about what he expected. "Okay, I have no idea what you intend to do, but if it's going to make sparks that might put me at risk for being here, then you're definitely at risk," he pointed out, stealing another glance at the strange contraption. Nope, still no idea.

"So how do you plan to get away with it? Do you have an escape plan?" he inquired, raising his eyebrows curiously. Somehow, he wasn't so sure that Grendel had really worked out his escape plan. He'd believe the guy knew EXACTLY what to do before escape was necessary, but escapes were more Gabe's style.

"What I'm actually asking is if you want help." Insert grin here.

[Grendel Parks]

Grendel's smile widened a bit. "I guess I could use a little help." He wasn't used to people offering and always expected that he would have to go it alone, but if Gabe was willing, he would accept the help. He led the way more toward the center of the park.

"My van's that way." He said gesturing toward the corner where it was parked. "That's my best get-away plan. There's always that option of running like hell. Do you have a better idea?" He didn't always consider the more physical aspects of a clean get-away. He'd been pursued a few times in the past and he'd been fortunate not to be recognized, mostly due to the fact that he could short-circuit most camera equipment. He also had some fairly elaborately built jammers in his van that could be used to scramble phone and radio equipment. When it came to the modern world and its love-affair with electrical gadgets Grendel could get away with a lot more than he should have.

Of course he knew that someone like Gabe would be a good asset. Disappearing was generally very useful because there were only a few agents out there capable of piercing visibility limitations without special equipment. The government's stranglehold on magical literature was also a limitation in his eyes.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

Gabe nodded as the other man accepted his offer of help, grabbed his coat, and followed him towards the center of the park. He was immediately focused on their surroundings, trying to put together the most effective escape plan possible. "I'm assuming you have to be in the middle of the park to make that thing work?" he asked, willing to bet that'd be the case. It always was.

Did he have to explain his thought processes? He was almost tempted to make Grendel turn around, park his van a few blocks away, and then come back. The van probably wouldn't be the best method of escape, since it could be traced, but leaving it there wasn't a great idea, either. That would be something they'd look for. Maybe if the ritual or whatever it was happened closer to the opposite side of the park, and that was where they escaped to...

No, he knew better. If HE was doing any sort of investigating on something like this, he'd ask about the nearby cars, and he knew that the detectives checked them. He'd fortunately parked far enough away that he wouldn't be obvious, since he'd wanted a walk. Grendel's van would be pretty obvious. They'd need a damn good plan.

"Are you going to leave a huge power trail from this?" he continued, his train of thought already past his first question and onward, assuming that they'd have to be in the middle. He had to know how much power Grendel would be expending to know how much he'd need to wash it out with. "Because I'm thinking I can flood the area enough with my own to make yours harder to find, drop you off at your van so you can high-tail it out of here, and then take off in the opposite direction. I can vanish better than you can if they're on my trail, and we can't afford to leave your van so close to where we are. They'll check it, and use it to find you."

[Grendel Parks]

Grendel smirked. "They can't trace my plates easily. I've already messed with their databases a few times. I have some other plates I can replace them with in a compartment under the dash if it's a problem. Honestly, Gabe, did you really think my van was registered?" He laughed out loud.

"And the van really isn't all that close anyway. It's at least three blocks that way and I haven't perfected the remote control for it." He said this with a straight face and then laughed out loud. "I had you going didn't I? No I'm not putting my van on remote control. It would be neat to try though, don't you think? That'd be so cool."

"I've been reading some though... you know in the old days the wizards of yore had familiars. If I could do that I'd make my van into a construct of some kind, you know... like in that show Knight Rider, then it could talk and everything."

He was smiling the whole time he was talking. The scary thing was that he was dead serious. The scarier thing was that there was a slim possibility he could actually do it.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

"Do you know they call me a nerd cop? Cause I do forensics, instead of directing traffic? Did you really just tell a cop, even a nerd cop, that your vehicle isn't registered?" he asked, looking shocked, though the false horror faded rather quickly. "Can't say I blame you for not registering it. It's a handy trick."

A very handy trick, actually. He'd have to remember that Grendel could do things like that for future reference. One never knew when computerized records would need to be...tweaked. It also helped with their plans for that evening.

"Good, then I'll still drop you off at your van, and you can take off. If I head in another direction, the sniffers'll be more likely to follow me, and your handy fake plates and lack of registration should be able to get you away from the regular authorities, so long as you can lose them. We'll just have to be fast in getting out, just in case."

He'd hate to find out that there was a sniffer in the area. That would be downright obnoxious. Even worse than listening to Grendel's talk of Knight Rider, which had perhaps been Gabe's least favorite old show. The car was cool, but Hasselhoff? Ugh. "That was a cool car. I would be eternally impressed if you could do that with your van, and stop referring to it as a piece of junk behind your back. Promise," he told the other man with a smirk, obviously joking. He'd been suspicious when Grendel mentioned 'perfecting the remote control', but he'd almost been willing to believe it. Grendel did strange and impressive things with electronics. Gabe had a working knowledge of the stuff, and that was it. Grendel had made something of an art out of it.

[Grendel Parks]

Grendel laughed. "Sadly I'm more of a computer geek than a mechanic. And you know very well that if you got me arrested Officer Sullivan, you would never see me again, regardless of whether you actually got me all the way behind bars first." He mentally added and payback's a bitch.

He decided it wasn't worth telling Gabe he didn't have insurance either but there were some things the good, honorable police forensics man didn't need to know. Grendel was a thief, albeit a high-tech thief. He stole money and lived on what he could take for himself. He did occasionally get legitimate work, but it never paid as well as the occasional high-tech heist or stolen credit card number.

Grendel had never paid state or federal taxes, not that he had any reportable income and he'd never given any of his money to Social Security or Medicare. He also had no plans for a retirement plan so it was anyone's guess what would become of him in old age, but he would probably have an idea in mind before he got there even if it meant assuming a fake identity.

He pulled his contraption out of the box and set it on the ground when he found the right place. He'd marked it with a bit of day-glow orange spray paint a couple days before. The mark was small enough most people wouldn't notice it.

"Well I'm hoping it won't be too much of a light show." Grendel remarked as he started turning on the 'on' switches on all the various components of the device. Some of them made unexpected yet thoroughly appropriate 'whirring up' noises once he flipped them on. All of the machines were connected with a rats' nest of cables and wires. The last thing Grendel pulled out was a great big car battery. Both terminals were wired to everything else he had strung together, presumably for additional juice.

"I really wish I'd gone for a taller antenna." He commented as he extended his antenna up. He was hoping to make up for his lack of antenna with additional juice but it was hard to judge if it would be enough. Climbing a cellphone tower to do his little experiment was a little too risky what with the prospect of someone potentially cornering him up there... but he had a few ideas that might work that way too if this didn't work.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

"Come on, you should know by now that I wouldn't," he returned, rolling his eyes with a good-natured grin. Just because they were doing something that could potentially get them both forcibly detained and shut away in the Institution for some 'quality attention' didn't mean that they couldn't have a good time while they were at it.

Actually, when you put it that way, Gabe thought they SHOULD have a good time at it. Get the most out of their time while they had it, since one never knew what might happen. Naturally, Gabe was going to fight his ass off if his life ever exploded in his face, but he preferred being charming and making bad jokes. It was less...traumatic.

"Honestly? I wish I had a clue what you're doing, but since I don't, I think I'll just put my coat on and wait for the fireworks," he remarked casually, doing just as he said. He wasn't just standing there idly and waiting, though. Already he was watching the area, just in case. He knew that Grendel wasn't doing anything with his magic yet, or he'd feel it, and once the other man started, he was going to have to do his best to keep them both hidden. "Is there a point in this where you won't mind it being too dark to see?"

[Grendel Parks]

Grendel was fiddling with one of the devices and even paused to thwack the side of it with his palm. Then he set it down next to a bare circuit board with a glowing LED which was flickering ominously.

"I need to be able to see this." He said holding up what looked like a thoroughly hacked over PDA. "Other than that, you can do what you want." He said and smiled a bit at Gabe's apparently lighter demeanor.

Grendel would not have been one of the first people to admit it but he did like having help. It was hard feeling like he was the only one all the time. "I'm hacking into a communications satellite. It has to happen tonight or I won't be lined up right. If I'm successful I'll have control over most of the communications coming into this entire region."

His eyes glowed for a moment at the thought of so much power at his fingertips. "Of course, I won't be able to keep it up for long..." He laughed almost giddily. "And then we'll have to make a run for it. But I'm hoping I'll have time to insert a backdoor so I can track this little dog down and close up the hole that's letting him pick at my safeguards."

[Gabriel Sullivan]

He nodded at Grendel's explanation, though he stopped and stared for an instant at the mention of hacking into a satellite. Fireworks would be an understatement, and so was 'making a run for it'. Great. This was going to be awesome. Hopefully, they wouldn't die or get caught.

"Okay, that was exactly what I needed to know. I'll make sure you can still see once this gets started. Any other demands?" he inquired, glancing around while the machine sat there and whirred. Grendel sounded like he was getting excited, too, which meant to Gabe that he was about to start. Perfect.

No time like the present.

"Just, don't try to take off or anything without letting me know. I won't turn the lights out on you, but it's going to get really dark around us. Don't let it freak you out, either," he warned. He'd been told that watching it happen was kind of creepy on occasion. Naturally, it didn't scare HIM, but he was used to it. Other people didn't usually like it the way he did.

[Grendel Parks]

"Well if you're ready, then let's get this show on the road." Grendel said adjusting the positioning of his devices just so. He sat down Indian-style beside the odd assortment of things and set a full-sized keyboard down in his lap. He brought the PDA out and set it on his knee.

He then laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles. He set his fingers on the keyboard and started typing. tap tap tap tap tap... The noise of his fingers clacking down on keys seemed to flutter for a moment and then his his pinky finger came down on the enter key. clink

At first it might have seemed as if nothing had happened and then a wash of yellowish sparks seemed to flow from Grendel into and over the devices in a network of zigs and zags. There was no mistaking it for anything remotely normal and then the largest and least identifiable of all the devices began to hum and shake a bit.

The overall contraption was giving off a great deal of heat. This was a worry for Grendel since if it got too hot, some of the components might not work right and then his machine would melt and he would be back to the drawing board. Also heat meant the device was losing energy and that wasn't good either. And then BZAAAZZZT the machine kicked into full gear and energy arced up the antennae in marvelous splendor which was rapidly becoming eclipsed by Gabe's efforts to hide it.

Grendel was always amazed when something he built worked, so he had to shake himself out of an initial daze before remembering his PDA and limited time. He squinted cautiously at it since he was beginning to have trouble seeing now but it was not so bad that he couldn't see at all.

He began typing frantically fast. He was getting a real rush from cracking into this satellite. Moments like these made life worth living. This was exactly what made it fun to be a hacker.

He crowed a bit once he'd gotten that happy little 'ok' prompt. "I'm in!" He said giddily. And then he started typing frantically again. He had to work fast... the heat coming off the machine was unbearable and the air was starting to smell like burnt grass.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

There's a reason sniffers are usually of the light and dark persuasion, and that specific reason was how he knew when to get started. As soon as he started to feel the magic build up around Grendel, he prepared himself to block off the light show that was sure to show up. He wasn't going to amp up the level of power until it was necessary, though.

Soon, it was necessary.

Gabe's power could be quite subtle when he wanted it to be, but here, it didn't matter if he put out the effort to be subtle. Nobody was present to see except for Grendel, and the little gremlin was too busy playing with his toys. Thus, Gabe played with his OWN toys, and the shadows from the park around them twisted and grew up around them, though their own little circle didn't grow dark. It would just be practically impossible for Grendel to see out, since Gabe was essentially creating a moving, writhing wall of darkness to both keep people out and prevent them from seeing anything inside. He couldn't really help the fact that it was blocking a lot of the moonlight Grendel was using to see, but the machine was causing enough light that he figured it was alright.

More than alright, actually. When he spared a glance over at the other man, his eyes having gone black from the efforts he was expending, he had to squint against the bright, electronic light.

"Good, because we'll more than likely have company soon," he returned, keeping his eyes away. He never did well with bright light during or after doing something like this. It was rather annoying.

[Grendel Parks]

Grendel continued to type at a frantic pace. There was a little bit of hit-or-miss at this point since he needed to feel his way around the satellite's programming infrastructure a bit. Once he had his bearings he started an upload which was painfully slow.

"I need five minutes." He said tensely to Gabe. "Can you tell if anyone is out there?"

He couldn't see anything but it was possible Gabe could sense if anyone was nearby or approaching. Anyone else scrying them would be a bad thing. Grendel was feeling an adrenaline surge now. If he ran out of time for this upload, this whole thing would have been for a waste.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

Five minutes? That might be pushing it just a little...

"I don't see or feel anyone just yet, but five minutes might change that. Between the two of us, someone's bound to notice by then," he informed Grendel honestly. He knew that the energy Grendel alone was putting off would have been enough to have his attention if he hadn't already been involved, and though he was doing what he could to provide a subtle 'dark spot', someone would eventually find them. He'd have to be quick about getting Grendel out of here when he finished.

Gabe was a very practical individual, even if his ideals got in the way sometimes, so he was certainly the sort to yank Grendel out of there prematurely if he had to, but he was going to do whatever he could to stall long enough to let the guy finish. Despite his concerns about one or both of them getting caught, he didn't want this whole situation to have been for nothing. They could stop prematurely and still get caught, which would be entirely worthless. He was going to do everything within his power to ensure that the job was done.

Grendel still needed to hurry, though.

[Grendel Parks]

Grendel had to wait while the upload continued. At least it was working. At least everything seemed to be falling in place. It seemed like an eternity while he watched that little progress bar. Sweat was pouring down his back. He half wished he had the ability to sense other magic users in the vicinity, but then that probably would have only made him more paranoid. He considered reading up on it and creating a scanner. It was an idea, something he might do while building better security for Jove's.

A little more...

Time seemed to be his enemy right now. He was apt to jump at every stray sound and his heart was pounding with anticipation for something, anything to interrupt, cease, break, ruin his chances of getting this to work.

And then the upload finished.

Yes yes yes!

His fingers almost didn't want to function anymore as he quickly typed in the last step in the sequence. Decompress. Install. Execute.

He could see sparks coming up off his skin. It was starting to leave marks on the keyboard he was trying to use.

Then once he'd seen the last critical point he used his magic to cut it all off. Forget about power switches or possible complications from a cold shut-down, there was time to sort that out later. The equipment was still hot while he was throwing it all back into the box. His body was giving off an energy glow and he was sparking. That wasn't going to be easy to hide even if it was subtle given what he could sometimes get like.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

Grendel wasn't the only one waiting around for that upload, but Gabriel remained silent. He was focused on what he was doing and what was going on around them where Grendel couldn't, and he wasn't about to screw that up just because he was being nosy about the guy's science project. There'd be time to ask how exactly it was supposed to work, and if everything had gone well, later.

Right then, it was getting done and getting out of there safely.

"Someone's coming," he commented in a calm, quiet tone, as though it wasn't important. It was. "Someone very inconvenient for us."

He shot a look over his shoulder as he finished speaking, and had to put out an actual effort to keep an accidental power surge due to emotions from giving them away even worse. Grendel looked like he was packing up. "You're finished? Excellent! You know you're lit up like a Christmas tree, right?"

That'd be fun to hide. They didn't have time to discuss it, though. Gabe shot forward, grabbing Grendel's arms and pulling the shadows tighter around them. Grendel wouldn't see it, but he'd fanned them out around them, trying to keep their little bubble from looking obvious.

[Grendel Parks]

Gabe had already reached for him before he could warn him off.

"N-no Gabe." He sputtered knowing full well that he was carrying a charge. He couldn't guess at how much but it had the potential to hurt, maybe even stun the man if he wasn't prepared for a nasty shock. Grendel just hoped it wasn't enough to knock him out because then they were both in for some trouble. He delayed a moment to be sure Gabe could shrug it off before he could take off running. He wasn't going to ditch a friend if he was in trouble.

Internally he was cursing. Dammit Gabe... keep your hands to yourself next time.